Eric Slivka
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of MacRumors and has been writing for the site since 2008.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
Eric Slivka's Articles
Siri Support for Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Russian Languages Coming Next Month?
Tech in Asia reports on an article [Google translation] from Chinese information technology website DoNews claiming that Apple is preparing to bring support for the Chinese language to Siri on the iPhone 4S next month. According to the report, Apple is also preparing to launch support for Japanese and Russian, but the initial Chinese support will only include Mandarin, with Cantonese and other...
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Apple Pushes for Clarification on Licensing of FRAND Patents
Dow Jones Newswires reports that Apple filed a letter with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) last November pushing for clarification on how standards-essential patents are intended to be licensed. These standards-essential patents are currently required to be licensed under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms in order to promote competition in the...
Sprint Sells 1.8 Million iPhones in 4Q 2011, 40% to New Subscribers
Sprint today became the last of the three major U.S. iPhone carriers to report earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011, disclosing that it sold a total of 1.8 million iPhones during the quarter. While well below the 7.6 million activations reported by AT&T and the 4.3 million activations reported by Verizon, Sprint's iPhone surge helped it achieve a new record high subscriber base of 55 million...
'iBank Access' Seeking to Remake Personal Finance on the iPad
As Intuit's Quicken options for Mac users continue to falter in the wake of a stripped-down Quicken Essentials release and the company's ongoing efforts to make the more fully-functional Quicken 2007 compatible with OS X Lion, other personal finance software firms have attempted to step into the void.
One of the more successful companies has been IGG Software with its iBank software, which is...
Apple to Stream Live Paul McCartney Concert to iTunes and Apple TV
Apple today announced that it will be supporting Paul McCartney's new album release with a special free video stream of a live concert on Thursday, February 9 [iTunes Store]. The concert is not only being streamed via iTunes on Mac and PC, but will also be available directly on users' Apple TVs, signaling new efforts by Apple to increase the utility of its set-top box.To celebrate the release...
Apple Brings Lion Internet Recovery to More 2010 Macs
Apple today released a series of three EFI firmware updates bringing Lion Internet Recovery to the company's Late 2010 MacBook Air, Mid-2010 iMac, and Early 2010 MacBook Pro. Available firmware updates include:
- MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.3 (2.98 MB):This update enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on MacBook Air (Late 2010) models and addresses an issue where the system...
Apple Now Requiring iPhone Developers to Submit Retina Screenshots
Apple today notified members of its iOS Developer Program of a new requirement that all screenshots being submitted for iPhone and iPod touch apps in the App Store must meet Retina resolution requirements, which come in at 960x640 on those devices. Any updates to existing apps must also include Retina screenshots, if they are not already present, before the updates will be approved by Apple.Requir...
iPhone and iPod Engineering VP David Tupman Leaves Apple
Apple's vice president for iPhone and iPod engineering David Tupman has left the company, according to 9to5Mac. While not a member of the senior executive team, Tupman spent a decade at Apple and has been considered to be one of the key iOS hardware executives reporting to senior vice president Bob Mansfield.Weeks before the introduction of the first iPod, Apple hired Tupman, and he soon became...
iPad's Momentum in Restaurants Grows with Buffalo Wild Wings Trial
Ever since the iPad was introduced two years ago, its potential to revolutionize the restaurant industry has been widely touted, with some restaurants already moving to replace their traditional point-of-sale devices with iPads and companies such as Square seeking to fill that need.
And while iPads in restaurants have been catching on here and there, the concept could be ripe for major...
Apple Seeking to Bring Store-Within-a-Store Concept to Sam's Club?
9to5Mac reports that Apple is in "early discussions" with Sam's Club to bring the Apple store-within-a-store concept to the popular warehouse club chain that operates as a division of Walmart.Sam’s Club and Apple are not only in early discussions for the Apple store-in-store program, but a backup plan is also being discussed. This plan consists of Sam’s Club simply selling Apple’s Macs, but ...
Apple Faces Potential $38 Million Fine in China as $1.6 Billion Lawsuit Over 'iPad' Trademark Proceeds
iSmashPhone summarizes a pair of reports from China claiming that Apple is facing a potential 240 million yuan ($38 million) fine from governmental authorities over alleged trademark infringement involving the "iPad" name. The fine pales, however, in comparison to the $1.6 billion Proview Technology, which claims to own the name, is seeking to win in a series of lawsuits filed against Apple....
Apple's 'Macroscalar' Trademark Application Sparks Speculation on Processor Architecture Advances
Patently Apple reports that Apple last week filed a curious new trademark application for the term "macroscalar". The company has typically quietly registered trademarks in countries such as Trinidad & Tobago, only to later apply for the marks in the United States and other major markets once the new products and features have been announced. While an application for "macroscalar" was indeed...
Audience's 'earSmart' Technology Explains Siri's iPhone 4S Exclusivity
CNET reports on a new research note from analyst Linley Gwennap, who believes that custom circuitry in Apple's A5 system-on-a-chip including "earSmart" noise cancellation technology from Audience is the reason why Siri is currently an iPhone 4S-only feature. Gwennap cites Audience's S-1 filing made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month in advance of the company's initial...
Best Buy Dreams Up a $1499 42-Inch 'Apple HDTV' for Customer Feedback
The Verge reports that Best Buy has been surveying some of its customers on proposed products and services, with the company including a description of a 42-inch "Apple HDTV" priced at $1499. The listing is undoubtedly simply a concept dreamed up by Best Buy to help gauge interest in such an offering, but provides an interesting perspective on what the major electronics retailer might be hoping...
Genius Recommendations for Movies and TV Shows Appearing on Apple TV
Several Apple TV users have reported a new addition to the menus of their devices, with the new option bringing Genius recommendations for movies and TV shows in their libraries. Curiously, early reports noted that rather than carrying a correct menu title, the movie option carried the name "ATV.Menu.MOVIE.GeniusItem", suggesting that the new feature may have appeared prematurely. Apple seems...
Apple Clarifies iBooks Author Licensing Situation in New Software Update
Following Apple's release of iBooks Author last month to support creation of iBooks Textbooks, significant controversy arose regarding the software's licensing, which specified that the output from the software could only be sold via the iBookstore and not any other marketplace.
Some confusion had resulted from Apple's language, with some believing that Apple was claiming rights to all content ...
Apple's Share of Profits Among Top Mobile Phone Vendors Hits 75%
asymco's Horace Dediu has released his latest calculations of revenue and profits in the global mobile phone industry, finding that Apple has increased its share of the top vendors' profits to 75%. Samsung followed in second place with 16% of industry profits while no other vendor accounted for more than 4% of profits.Apple reached 75% of profit share, nearly 40% of revenue share and 9% of...
Apple Releases iBooks 2.0.1 to Address Issue with Textbooks Not Opening
Apple today updated iBooks [App Store] to version 2.0.1, bringing a fix for an issue that resulted in some iBooks Textbooks not opening in the application.
Apple is not terribly specific about the issue, but it may be related to a complaint shared by USA Today almost immediately after the iBooks 2.0 launch and for which Apple had promised a fix.We're aware of a small number of iBooks 2 users...
Snow Leopard Security Update Kills PowerPC Apps Using Rosetta
While the odd "CUI Error" experienced by some users after upgrading to OS X 10.7.3 earlier this week has garnered a fair amount of attention, it appears that a security update released for Mac OS X Snow Leopard at the same time is also causing major issues for users who rely on older PowerPC applications that run under Apple's Rosetta framework.
Security Update 2012-001 was released alongside...
Apple Pulls All 3G Devices Except iPhone 4S from German Online Store Following Motorola Patent Win [Updated]
Bloomberg reports that Apple has removed all non-iPhone 4S devices with 3G technology from its German online store following a win by Motorola in the ongoing patent dispute between the two companies. The devices, which include the 3G iPad 2, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3GS, remain available from Apple's physical stores and other resellers in the country.
iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS removed from ...
